{"id":42325,"date":"2018-10-18T16:15:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T13:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=42325"},"modified":"2022-05-15T09:29:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T06:29:41","slug":"it-should-not-enter-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/it-should-not-enter-your-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"It Should Not Enter Your Mind!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cBut if other damage ensues, the penalty shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, arm for arm, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nineteen years ago I was a college student and was learning at the Drisha Institute in New York City. NYC is my hometown, but I was a stranger in the beit midrash. \u00a0In my first ever Talmud class, we were learning Bava Kamma 83b, which was the context in which I first learned these verses of Torah.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mishnah quoted there enumerates the laws of liability for damages, taking as a given that \u201ceye for an eye\u201d actually refers to reasonable financial compensation, not gouging someone\u2019s eye out in retribution. The Gemara abruptly asks: \u201cWhy does the Mishnah not interpret our biblical verses literally?!\u201d and then answers its own question: \u201dIt should not even enter your mind!\u201d Over the next several pages, however, the Rabbis explain why a literal reading is preposterous; indicating that the Gemara anticipates it may in fact enter one\u2019s mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are they apologizing for a text that is closer to Hammurabi than their contemporary views? I don\u2019t know, but I am glad they lay out the arguments for perpetuity. The Rabbis do not want blind followers, their vast ideas to be swallowed along with breakfast. We should not take their word for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a parent of adolescents who <\/span>never<\/b> take my word for it, l read this passage as closer to pedagogy than apology. I do not want to hear my opinions parroted back to me, because I\u2019m their mom and I said so. They were born debaters, and it is their job, as young adults, to challenge, argue, refute and test the limits. Like loving parents, the Rabbis are there to accept our challenges, our doubts, and guide us, by example.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we are the people of the book, it\u2019s fair to ask which book. One possible etymological root of the English word \u201cbook\u201d is \u201cbeech\u201d – of course the Tanakh itself was not written on paper until a few hundred years ago – but we do refer to it as the Tree of Life. In holding fast to it, our hearts and minds are integral partners with the Torah, not its mere subjects.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":92186,"id":92186,"title":"pro3-tree of life2","filename":"pro3-tree-of-life2.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro3-tree-of-life2.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-tree-of-life\/pro3-tree-of-life2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"pro3-tree-of-life2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":92185,"date":"2021-04-15 06:43:05","modified":"2022-09-14 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